Writer Wednesday

First I’ll send you to Smashwords blog for a post on new viral catalysts. I’m also reading Mark Coker’s Secrets to e-publishing success, but I’ll do a full review when I’m done, LOL. Well, I’ve read the part where Mark Coker credits Joleene Naylor for his new cover… I should hire her for my future non-fiction book! :-D

I’d like to add also Michael Stackpole’s post on DRM or lack of it – he’s right, Kindle owners (except me, LOL!) shop only on Amazon, Nook owners on B&N, etc. Sure, you can use Calibre to convert those e-books, but that’s why I love Smashwords – once I have bought the book, I have access to all formats, including old-fashioned pre-Kindle PDF.

But then, I’m not an average reader in any sense. And if you were wondering why I love Smashwords more than Amazon (hence KDP Select won’t see me at this time), well…

This will come out as Happiness is this month as well, but here’s the short version! ;-) That’s an e-mail I was really looking forward to! So one year and one month after I published the first novel on Smashwords (Jessamine was published in January, but it went free during the summer, so I’m not really counting it) – still my “bestseller, “LOL – I’m starting to see the results. In December I was stuck with 9.13$, not enough to get paid… which means that the first quarter of 2012 I earned more than the whole of 2011! :-) Maybe because I had more books out? Not all the 2012 sales were of new titles… last year’s novels were being discovered this year! ;-)

Anyway, that much expected e-mail came with the reservation of the Chicon7 hotel and the receipt of registration for the con… so if any of your are going, let’s meet there at the end of August! :-D

Also S.K.Y.B.A.N.D Omnibus 2 is out on DruveThruComics, BUT the wonderful guys are preparing some kind of sale, so if you add it to your wishlist, sometimes during the month you’ll be able to purchase it with 25% off. So go register and fill that wishlist of comics and graphic novels now! (Please note not all publishers might want to do this – I’ve requested to be added to that list, but I don’t know how it actually works yet!) I might end up actually buying what I have on my own wishlist there too, while I’m at it, LOL!

Oh, and thanks to all who told Amazon, Books of the Immortals – Prequels is now FREE on Amazon.com (any way of making it free on the other Amazons?). The switch having happened at the end of the month, I have no idea how many downloads on the first day yet, but here’s a screenshot from Monday (mid-day in Italy – was 99 when I last checked before going to bed).

David Gaughran made an excellent post on visibility on Amazon, so I’ll make sure to let you know when I get into the top100 free Kindle books, LOL! Also read his story with self-publishing – I wasn’t this good, as last year I didn’t see a penny or cent of royalties, but I knew it would be a slow growth. I mean my expectations weren’t really high and I chose self-publishing because I’m prolific and don’t want to wait for traditional publishers.

April was a slow month both in sales and blog visits, but I’m still quite happy and excited and thinking of ways to entice fans at Chicon7, LOL! I have to decide if I want to bring cards, postcards or CDrom with my e-books on it… will have to check Zazzle prices and other options… This following Michael Stackpole’s advice on selling direct – but don’t worry, you won’t see me pestering all the fans at the con. I’m still a very shy person who hates to be at the center of the attention. But if in a conversation somebody asks “What do you write?” I can have something handy to show, know what I mean? ;-) I will NOT obsess about it (as suggested by SPAL)!

Loralie has an excellent post on Scrivener tips, except the only thing that caught my attention is the name generator… But I think I’ll stick to Open Office for the time being, LOL! And Stephen did a wonderful round-up of articles on DoJ/Amazon stuff for whoever wants them all in one place. I think indie writers shouldn’t give anyone exclusivity, or they might as well go to a traditional publisher… don’t leave all your eggs in one basket, right?

Now, Blood Red Pencil says May is short story month… uhm… I have scheduled two novels/longer works for my other pen-names this month… no short stories… Ah, well, you can have two in June! Along with CVE3 which will soon go out to beta and editors… OK, I never liked to follow the flow and I can just say because I’m on this side of the ocean, I’m not following US “rules”, LOL!

That’s all for today – written during a holiday with only a break to have lunch at mum’s, I’ll have to find a day of the week to study all the blogs, LOL! And now I’m behind with April’s writing, so I better go back to work! Have a great week!

4 Comments

well, it takes patience (see my above royalties – they include all my sales on Smashwords from January 2011 to March 2012…) – and I won’t see a check from Amazon until I reach 100$ or royalties (and I’m not selling more there than on Smashwords, so…).
I’m halfway through it – anyway, it’s a free book, you can download it now and read it at your leasure. Like I said, it’s FREE DOWNLOAD, so go for it! :-)

Yeah I have had slow growth myself, but so far this year I have made more than I did in ALL of last year (and probably the other years combined!) so I think things are finally picking up some. B&N has helped a LOT in that department and the only thing I can think is it is from having the free short stories on there. Amazon picked up briefly when Fifty Shades of Gray was popular, but the amazon numbers have dropped again.

My name is Barb, and I'm a writer, sometimes an artist, mostly a world-creator and storyteller of fantasy worlds. I have more than one pen-name and write in more than one genre.
I blog about life, the universe... OK, you can guess I'm a writer, but not Douglas Adams, so I'll leave the Hitchhiker's Guide aside. And no, I'm not going to spam you by only rambling about my books - if you're interested, just go to the dedicated pages, thank you.
This is my blog, about the "creative barbwire" that I am - there's no rose without thorns, right?
Enjoy...

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